Consumer Outreach Features, Insights, and Analysis

As public and private sector leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere confront the increasingly harsh realities of water scarcity, some of the media coverage has understandably pointed to lessons learned in Australia. On the driest inhabited continent on Earth, Australian water sector leaders have gained hard-won insights about the fight against drought.

Every week, as General Manager for People and Culture at Yarra Valley Water in Melbourne, Australia, I’m asked for advice about how we transformed the culture of our publicly-owned water corporation. The requests come from near and far — peer utilities, businesses in other sectors, and government agencies. They’d like the recipe for what we’ve accomplished — the steps from A-Z. But it’s not as simple as that. It’s been a true journey with twists and turns that weren’t always pretty, and we gave life to it as we grew. In this article I’d like to share insights that might make this kind of transformation accessible to other organizations.

Cutting off service to a customer who hasn’t paid their water bill can be a controversial move for many utilities. But a new product that integrates a shut off valve with an ultrasonic meter may make what has traditionally been an all or nothing decision a little easier.

Did you know that two-thirds of the continental U.S. has experienced drought in the last few years? It has left many utilities grappling with water scarcity and the costs of finding new water resources and treatment.

As a country, we’ve come a long way toward providing clean air, water, and land — essential resources that support healthy, productive lives. But we have more work to do to make sure that every American has access to safe drinking water.

Water utilities are responsible for one thing above all: supplying safe drinking water to their populations on a daily basis. In light of the recent public health crisis in Flint, MI, utilities have never been under more pressure from the public to perform this service.

With increasing and urbanizing population, extreme weather events happening with greater frequency, aging infrastructure and work forces, more demanding customers, and significant revenue constraints, it is becoming increasingly difficult for water utilities to ensure that supply consistently meets demand.